RIP: Opera is killing Max because all good things must come to an end

“All good things must come to an end” is not just a popular saying but my favourite line from the hit TV show Breaking Bad. Just like Walter White’s wayward ways and the show itself, it looks like the same is happening to one of my favourite applications: Opera Max.

An update on the Opera blog bluntly states that Opera is shutting down Max.

“Opera has now decided to discontinue Opera Max. The product had a substantially different value proposition than our browser products, and represented a different focus for Opera. We, therefore, focus on our browsers and other upcoming services.”

Breathes in. Whatever that means.

Opera Max has since 2014, when it was launched, been always a dependable solution for Android device users looking to reign in on data-hungry apps by providing easy to use controls.

“It’s a data manager, a VPN, a browser and a privacy manager all rolled into one. Put simply, it’s the Swiss army knife of data managers,” I wrote three months ago when I reviewed it and recommended it to Safaricom subscribers complaining about unexplained data bundle usage patterns.

Now, those users and the over half a million others that had downloaded it from the Google Play Store, where it has since been delisted, will have to find a new home for their mobile data management needs.

So popular was Opera Max that Samsung even started bundling it on its low-cost Galaxy J series smartphones on sale in markets like India and Kenya.

While it may no longer be available through the Play Store, Opera Max can still be downloaded and installed through third party alternative application stores and repositories like APKMirror. Those who already have the application installed will be happy to learn that it will continue working as it has always done for the time being but will be disappointed to note that the Opera team will be pulling the plugs any time soon.